When the FBI started investigating billionaire Jeffrey Epstein for sexually abusing and trafficking dozens of underage girls – many as young as 14-years-old – he could have gone to prison for the rest of his life.

Instead, a federal prosecutor arranged for a sweetheart plea deal to shut down the investigation and allow Epstein to spend just 13 months in a county jail.1That federal prosecutor is now Trump's Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta.

There should be no place in government for someone who shields a serial child abuser from justice. Acosta must go – now.

This week, the Miami Herald released a bombshell report based on a year's worth of investigative reporting into Epstein's case. Reporters identified about 80 women who say they were molested or otherwise sexually abused by Epstein as underage girls.2

But what reporters uncovered about how Acosta helped Epstein avoid justice is just as disturbing. In a highly unusual move, Acosta met with Epstein's attorney – a former colleague of Acosta's – and worked out a secret deal. He essentially allowed a criminal defendant to write his own punishment, and he illegally kept that deal secret from the victims.3

This secret deal granted immunity to “any potential co-conspirators’’ who were also involved in Epstein’s crimes. By preventing the FBI from investigating anyone else who participated in Epstein's sex ring, Acosta made sure that other wealthy child abusers never faced prosecution.

Now Acosta runs the federal agency that is supposed to oversee our labor laws, including human trafficking. Trump was considering Acosta for Attorney General, though he now says Acosta is out of the running.4But Acosta has no business being secretary of labor either. He clearly has no interest in defending the rights of the vulnerable – his priority is protecting the powerful from the consequences of their actions, however immoral.

Pressure is growing on Acosta to resign,5 but he will try to weather the criticism and keep his job if possible. We need to raise our voices now and say that Acosta has no business in public service.